living life with a pirate spirit

Deep down inside all of us, there’s a pirate lurking. Not the evil pirate bent on wreaking havoc and destruction, but a pirate thirsting for freedom and wild adventure. That pirate called to Mark Twain, and the very same pirate calls to you. Isn’t it time you discovered that pirate and set him or her free? Here are a few suggestions on how you can do that.

Say no just once to someone who makes an unreasonable request of your time. In fact, you should never do for others what they’re more than capable of doing for themselves. You can tell them, “I can’t help you now, but I can suggest someone who can.” This frees you up to do something that makes your pirate heart sing.

Disconnect yourself from the whiners. All they do is tell you how bad they have it, how bad life is treating them, how miserable they are. People like this sabotage your day. People like this sabotage your Pirate Heart. People like this ultimately sabotage your life. If you have the urge to dive off your ship and into a sea of sharks when you see someone coming, then they’re the one you want to steer your pirate ship clear of.

Do something silly today. Wear a clown’s nose to the grocery store. Take the time to ask the cashier a pirate joke: “Whose overworked and underpaid? You Arrrr!”

Watch a couple of reruns of your favorite TV shows.

Dream. Look up cruises on the internet or a vacation hideaway you always wanted to visit. You don’t actually have to plan on going. But when you start reading about a Caribbean destination, maybe you’ll start feeling the warm sands between your toes and begin to assume the persona of a beachcomber or pirate.

Wear your favorite bathing suit under your clothes all day long. It might be six degrees outside your front door, but it’ll remind your pirate spirit that the back of winter is almost broken and sunny days are ahead.

The Dawn of a New Year has broken, a leap year none the less, and many of you still have no idea where you want to set sail.

To be sure, you want this year to be different- you want this to be the year to make deep and profound changes in your life. For some those changes are personal, for others financial; yet for others the changes are more spiritual. But beyond that vague ache in your heart, you’re not sure where to set your course.

I say to you, to set a new course in the new year, follow your Pirate Heart. “Follow my Pirate Heart?” you ask incredulously. Yes, and if you haven’t before, go to my website Uncommon Mariners and read the section “About Me.” It’s all about discovering your pirate heart and following your pirate dreams.

Pirates more than 200 years ago especially Caribbean pirates became pirates for a lot of reasons, only one of them being financial gain. Beyond money was the underlying hunger to regain control of their lives. In 2016, that’s what being a pirate is all about, at least on a more profound and symbolic level.

The quintessential question posed before you at the beginning of this new year is very basic. What do I need to do to reclaim my pirate life, the life I was born to lead?

Here are a few questions you should consider before you go to bed each night of 2016 or at least when you start each day: Continue reading →

… You’ve ever been thrown out of a baseball game because you stole one of the bases and you weren’t even playing.

… After you brush your teeth, you g-Arrgh-le with rum.

… Your friends keep telling you to take a shower.

… All your pets are parrots.

… The Lone Ranger was your hero, but you liked his horse Silver even more.

… You’re the only one in your neighborhood with the Jolly Roger flying from your flagpole.

… You have a bumper sticker on your car that says, “My other car is a pirate ship.”

… You spend all your free time listening to Kenney Chesney or Jimmy Buffett music.

… Instead of a savings account, you bury all your money in the backyard.

… Your only camera is a Cannon.

… While everyone else is shaking their booty to the music, you start jingling the coins in your pocket.

… Your favorite game as a kid was Hide and Sneak.

… Your favorite instrument is the steal guitar.

… You think a baby boomer is a small cannon.

… You’re willing to pay an arm and a leg for a bottle of rum.

… You have a dog named Rover.

… You only watch movies rated Aaarrrrrgh.

… At church you always sing, “Preys the Lord!”

…When you got your ears pierced, you paid a buccaneer.

… You’re a plumber and you keep asking your helper for your wench.

… The only book you’ve ever read was Treasure Island.

… Instead of wearing sunglasses, you wear an eye patch.

… You think Jolly Ranchers are candies made just for pirates.

You can’t understand why the woman in the supermarket slapped you in the face when you complimented her on her broadside.

Your favorite blog is Pirates, Mariners, and the Eternal Sea.

How did you do? Less than five and you’re no pirate at all. Six to ten and you’ll be pillagin’ and plunderin’ in no time with a little more practice. Fifteen correct and you must have a pirate ship waiting to whisk you away. Twenty correct and you deserve the Golden Doubloon Award. Let me dig into my pirate’s chest. I think I have one in here somewhere. Oh, yeah! Here it is…

Someone once asked me: What’s with this obsession with pirates? If we all live like pirates, won’t we degenerate into a bunch of selfish cutthroats creating a hell for each other? The truth is living life with a pirate spirit is not about cheating and lying to aggrandize ourselves. It isn’t about taking what doesn’t belong to you. The thugs who create havoc around the world stealing ships, taking hostages, maiming and killing aren’t really part of this pirate equation. In denying mariners their property, their right to earn an honest living on the seas, and often enough their lives, these criminals become the very pariah they flail against.

Living life with a pirate spirit is really about reclaiming your life and your dreams, two things stolen from many of us a long, long time ago. The reason pirates from the Golden Age appeal so strongly to us is that they symbolize the independent, swashbuckling adventurer we all long to be, an adventurer willing to take chances to bring his dreams to life.

Sailors love the sea for the very same reason. Beyond the sight of land, a thousand miles from everywhere, something stirs in us and we feel alive like it was the first day of creation. Anything and everything suddenly becomes possible.

There’s another aspect to living our pirate dreams. When we become emboldened and take steps to make our dreams real, there is a rippling effect, so that we can’t help but want others to live their dreams as well.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “We are all islands in a common sea.” The humanity we share, knowing what it is to hope and dream and love and despair, these are the things that connect us to each other. No island ever became greater by taking from another. Would you live your pirate dreams? Then encourage others to do the same. You cannot claim freedom for yourself and deny it to others.

What chance have you taken lately? What dreams burn in your heart? What are you willing to do this coming week to help make one of them come true? Steal back part of your life. Chart a new course, and when you see a fellow mariner on the sea of life, lend him a helping hand. Pirates like other pirates. They love their adventurous spirit; they relate to the yearnings deep in their hearts. You can see it at a Jimmy Buffett concert. You can see it at a Bike Rally. Stand fast! See you out on the High Seas.